In order to facilitate and/or refine preparation of food, one may choose the assistance of a food processor. A food processor may be utilized for a variety of processing operations, for instance to prepare food by juicing, squeezing, mixing, cutting, grinding, chopping, slicing, grating, milling or shredding. Different ranges of use and varying sizes of food articles to be processed have resulted in a variety of food processors being available on the market, in various sizes and forms. The food processor may be multifunctional or optimized for one or more special tasks so as to operate, for example, as a centrifugal juicer for extracting juice.
In most cases, the food processor is electrical, having an inlet piece to feed the food to be processed downwardly onto a rotating element such as a grating disc or the like driven by a motor accommodated in the housing of the food processor. Furthermore, in order to grate food or extract juice, the rotating disc is typically provided with grating teeth. Juice extractors using a grating disc may extract juice from for instance a fruit or a vegetable by pressing it onto the grating disc, which grates material from the surface of the fruit or vegetable while at the same time releasing the juice. The grated material and the juice are typically thrown upwardly and outwardly by centrifugal forces against the surface of a filter surrounding the grating disc. The pulp carries on over the edge of the filter and is collected in a suitable receptacle while the finely filtered juice passes through the filter into another receptacle. The juice is thereby ready to be served.
The juice yield of current food processors is however commonly not satisfying, as the grating discs utilized in these juice extractors typically are not fully elaborated to get the highest possible juice output. Furthermore, after use of the food processor, fibers of juiced fruit typically remain on the grating disc as a result of food particles adhering to the grating teeth of the grating disc. Conventional manufacturing methods typically result in a grating tooth shape with an undercut, where fruit fibers etc may be trapped. Accordingly, it may be necessary to clean the grating disc thoroughly, and typically the user utilizes a cleaning accessory like a brush or even his fingers. Cleaning of the grating disc may hence be a hassle to the user and in the latter case additionally a hazard, as the user risks cutting his fingers on the grating teeth while cleaning the disc.
In order to overcome these matters, U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,220 introduces a juice extractor appliance comprising a cutter disc including a projecting pinching surface to better assure the complete cutting up of the food article into pulp saturated with juice. This solution implies the need for extra parts—i.e. the projecting pinching surface—which may hence in turn imply additional cost and/or a more complex manufacturing procedure.
Accordingly, there is still a need for an alternative grating disc elaborated for improved yield of processed food such as juice, and/or for facilitated cleanability after use, according to which the above-related drawbacks are at least partly eliminated.